Design and Comparison of Solar Thermal Oilfield Steam Production System Plans

Abstract

Parabolic trough solar concentrating technology is a new and clean way to replace the conventional fossil fuel technology to generate steam for heavy oil recovery in oilfield. A computational model was constructed with simulated direct normal irradiance from nearby similar climate locations. Different system configurations were analyzed with the model, such as with single- and dual-loop, with and without heat storage system. Finally, several solar field configurations with different collector field layouts were compared by the cost of unit generated steam. Results show that using heat storage can effectively improve the stability of steam production, and in a certain oilfield, an optimum steam production amount and optimum heat storage time (HST) exist for lowest steam cost. The methods and results in the paper provide useful suggestions for the implementation of a solar thermal oilfield steam production system.